The mountain whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni) has been largely overlooked in population genetic analyses despite its wide distribution in discrete drainage basins in western North America for over four million years. Its closest sister taxa the Bear Lake whitefish (P. abyssicola), Bonneville cisco (P. gemmifer), and Bonneville whitefish (P. spilonotus) are found only in Bear Lake Idaho-Utah and were also included in the analyses. A total of 1,334 cytochrome b and 1,371 NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequences from the Bonneville Basin, the Columbia River Sub-basin, the lower Snake River Sub-basin, the upper Snake River Sub-basin, the Green River Basin, the Lahontan Basin, and the Missouri Basin were examined to test for geographically based genetic differentiation between drainage basins and sub-basins and phylogeographic relationships to determine the invasion route of Prosopium into western North America and to aid in understanding current relationships. Prosopium entered the region via the Missouri River connection to Hudson Bay and moved in two waves: one colonized the lower Snake River Sub-basin, Columbia River Sub-basin, and the Lahontan Basin; the second wave colonized the upper Snake River Sub-basin, Bonneville Basin, Green River Basin, and established the Bear Lake Prosopium. Mountain whitefish exhibit a large amount of geographical genetic differentiation based on drainage basin except between the upper Snake River and the Bonneville Basin while the Bear Lake Prosopium show large amounts of gene flow between the three species. The apparent paraphyly of the mountain whitefish and the limited genetic structure of the Bear Lake Prosopium warrant recognition in the management of Prosopium and raise questions regarding species definitions in the group.

Pilot Valley, located in the eastern Basin and Range, north of Wendover, UT, contains numerous shorelines and depositional remnants of late Pleistocene Lake Bonneville. These remnants present classic ground penetrating radar (GPR) targets due to their coherent stratification, low clay, low salinity, and low moisture content. Three-dimensional (3D) GPR imaging can resolve fine-scale stratigraphy of these deposits down to a few centimeters. While lake levels fluctuated due to flooding events, climatic changes were the dominant factor in controlling lake levels. In Pilot Valley, the paleowind entered from the northwest, with storms coming from the south, and circulated clockwise around the basin, forming offshore sand bars. On the western side of the valley, a uniquely well-preserved interpreted regressive phase beach deposit, dated late Pleistocene, is hypothesized to have been a point bar shortly after the Provo Shoreline period. 3D GPR data, measured stratigraphic sections, cores, mineralogical analysis, and the collection of gastropod samples for radiocarbon dating constrain a reconstruction of the deposit's depositional environment and local paleoclimate for Lake Bonneville. The GPR images, visualized with state-of-the-art petroleum industry tools, reveal fine-scale stratigraphic detail that can be analyzed using seismic stratigraphy concepts. Our study provides a comprehensive model for ancient pluvial lake-shore depositional environments in a Basin and Range setting using an integration of geological and geophysical data.

The study of environmental history suggests that nature and culture change all the time, but that the rate and scale of such change can vary enormously. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Anglo settlement in the American West transformed landscapes and ecologies, creating new and complex environmental problems. This transformation was particularly impressive in Cache Valley, Utah's Bear River Range. From 1860 to 1910, Mormon settlers overused or misused the Bear River Range's lumber, grazing forage, wild game, and water resources and introduced invasive plant and animal species throughout the area. By the turn of the 20th century, broad overuse of natural resources caused rivers originating in the Bear River Range to decline. To address the water shortage, a small group of conservation-minded intellectuals and businessmen in Cache Valley persuaded local stockmen and farmers to support the creation of the Logan Forest Reserve in 1903. From 1903 to1910, forest managers and forest users attempted to restore the utility of the landscape (i.e., bring back forage and improve watershed conditions) however, they quickly discovered that the landscape had changed too much; nature would not cooperate with their human-imposed restoration timelines and desires for greater profit margins. Keeping in mind the impressive rate and scale of environmental decline, this thesis tells the heretofore untold environmental history of the Bear River Range from 1860 to 1910. It engages this history from an ecological and social perspective by (1) exploring how Mormon settlers altered the landscape ecology of the Bear River Range and (2) discussing the reasons why forest managers and forest users failed to quickly restore profitability to the mountain landscape from 1903-1910. As its value, a study of the Bear River Range offers an intimate case study of environmental decline and attempted restoration in the western United States, and is a reminder of how sensitive our mountain ranges really are.

The P-y curve, used in current practice as an efficient Iine-load vs. soi displacement model for input into the finite difference method of laterally loaded pile analysis, is extended in this study for use with cohesionless soils in diaphragm wall analysis on the Personal Computer with the BMCOL7 program. An analogous W-y curve is proposed, an elastic-plastic model with line-load limits developed from classical earth-pressure theories. A new formula for predicting a horizontal walI modulus for cohesionless soiIs from the pressuremeter modulus is developed for use in predicting the displacements on the W-y curves. The resulting modulus values are shown to yield reasonable displacements values. A new procedure for modeling preloaded tie-back anchors and staged excavation for diaphragm walIs was developed, utiIizing multiple computer runs, updated the W-y curves, and superposition of deflections. These new developments were applied to a parametric study of a deflection-critical section of the new Bonnevilie Nav-Lock Buttress Diaphragm Wall, for which extensive high-quality pressuremeter test results were available. Deflection curves of the wall are presented, showing the effect of variations in anchor preload, walI cracking, anchor slip, at-rest pressure, and soiI modulus. The results indicate that preloading will reduce wall deflections by at least 4-fold, but that wall cracking can potentially double deflections. Safety factors against passive soil failure were determined to be about 5 at anchor preload, and more than 40 after fulI excavation.

This is a case study of a federal bureaucracy and its Information Resource Management (IRM) organization. The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a federal power marketing agency and part of the Department of Energy, significantly impacts the western United States. BPA is responsible for developing electric power resources, transmission of electric resources. power conservation programs, and fish and wildlife programs. The focus of the study is the perception of the quality of information supplied to management, assuming that better information makes better decisions. The study uses a pre-experimental research design to evaluate the satisfaction executive and middle management with information they use to make decisions. The study uses both questionnaire and interview methodologies to examine management opinions before the establishment of IRM and two years after the establishment of IRM. Literature on bureaucracy indicates that decision making has limits and processes. Channels of communication, both formal and subformal are used by decision makers to gather information to fill information gaps. The gaps exist because formal channels of information do not supply sufficient information. Consequently, decision makers constantly search for information. There is a great deal of literature addressing IRM and other similar organizations. The technical and operational sides of information management are occasionally conflicting but, adequately addressed. Information assessment and evaluation are approached inadequately.

The majority of interior cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki) subspecies have been extirpated from large rivers by anthropogenic activities that have fragmented habitats and introduced non-native competitors. Selective pressures against migratory behaviors and mainstream river occupation and conservation schemes that isolate genetically pure populations above barriers have restricted gene flow and prevented the expression of fluvial life history traits in many populations. Existing knowledge about the movements and home range requirements of fluvial cutthroat trout is therefore limited. We implanted a total of 55 Bonneville cutthroat trout (BCT) in the Thomas Fork River, Idaho, with radio transmitters and located them weekly or bimonthly from October to April of both 1999/2000 and 2000/2001. Half of these fish were located above a seasonal diversion barrier and half were located below. We found fish to be more mobile than previously reported. Individuals located above the diversion barrier in 2000/2001 occupied significantly larger home ranges (median 3,675 m, range 2,500-8,900 m) and moved more frequently (mean 0.89 movements/contact, range 0.57-1.0) than other fish. Fish occupied habitats in the lower Thomas Fork and Bear River during the winter that were marginal or uninhabitable during other seasons. During the spring of both years we located fish in both upstream and neighboring tributaries up to 84 km away from our study site. Our results document the existence of a fluvial component of BCT in the Bear River and its tributaries and suggest that successful efforts at conservation of these fish will focus on mainstream habitats and the maintenance of seasonal migration corridors.

Movement patterns and habitat use of Bonneville cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki Utah) in tributaries of the Logan River watershed are greatly affected by habitat alterations created by North American Beaver (Castor canadensis). Evaluation of cutthroat trout habitat use in these watersheds is also complicated by biotic interactions with invasive brown trout (Salmo trutta) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). My objectives in this thesis were to 1.) Evaluate the passage of beaver dams by each trout species in the Temple Fork watershed and 2.) Evaluate the habitat use of cutthroat trout in the presence of brown trout and brook trout over a range of spatial scales. To address these objectives, 1381 trout were fitted with passive integrated transponder tags. Their locations were recorded using a combination of annual capture/recapture surveys, stationary in-stream antennas, and monthly continuous mobile antenna surveys. To address objective 1, fish were located above and below 22 beaver dams to establish whether fish passed dams and to identify downstream and upstream passage; 187 individual trout were observed making 481 passes of all 22 beaver dams. Native Bonneville cutthroat trout passed dams more frequently than both non-native brown trout and brook trout. It was determined that spawning timing affected seasonal changes in dam passage for each species. Physical characteristics of dams such as height and upstream location affected the passage of each species. Movement behaviors of each trout species were also evaluated to help ex- plain dam passage. These data suggest beaver dams are not acting as barriers to movement for cutthroat and brook trout but may be impeding the movements of invasive brown trout. To address objective 2, a hierarchical classification of stream habitat was created using the River Styles framework. The River Styles framework not only establishes a relationship between habitats at different scales, but also attempts to understand the processes that create and maintain those habitats. The location of each fish observation was associated with habitats at the stream, landscape unit, River Style, and geomorphic unit levels. Habitat use of each species of fish was evaluated at each spatial scale using all fish observations over the four-year study period. Hotspot locations, or locations used consistently by a species of fish consistently through time, were also evaluated across the entire study period and over each year. It was found that brook trout almost exclusively use the beaver ponds and beaver-altered habitats in Spawn Creek. Brown trout were not found in the upper- most parts of both Spawn Creek and Temple Fork. They were also found more than the other species in pools created by bedrock or man-made control features, suggesting that they select highly stable habitats. Cutthroat trout were found more than brown trout in beaver-altered habitats and lateral scour pools, suggesting that they select more dynamic, naturally occurring habitats.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, November, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-77).

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, November, 2003. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-77)

The Bonneville cisco (Prosopium gemmiferum), a small planktivorous whitefish, is an important part of the distinctive fish community of Bear Lake, Utah-Idaho. The Bonneville cisco plays a key role in the trophic structure by converting zooplankton to fish biomass and providing a major forage sour ce for cutthroat and lake trout. Aspects of cisco feeding ecology studied include characterization of the zooplankton community composition and dynamics and cisco feeding habits and prey select ion.